new beds made from doors

[MrBloom]

well today has been a busy day, shifted about 3 tons of soil and built 2 big raised beds and 3 small ones. here are a few pictures that i took earlier

[veggiechicken]

What a good idea, MrB. A combined greenhouse and raised bed! A couple of sheets of perspex over the top and you're set up for winter

[Snadger]

Have you got enough left to go over the top though?

[scarey55]

Brilliant! If you plant close enough to the edge, you could probably watch the plants grow above and below ground too!

[Newton]

It's plants not ants! I don't know if the roots like the light?

[MrBloom]

if they don't then ill just spray the windows lol. I was going to put some more doors on the tops on hinge's so i can access the bed easy but i haven't decided yet

[rustylady]

Doors might be a bit heavy, but you could make a frame to fit over the top and use clear thick polythene stapled to it to make a coldframe for winter / early spring. You could also make a frame with netting stapled to it to keep butterflies off brassicas for the summer.

[MrBloom]

you can't see on the pictures but there is netting on the cains that run round the side of the beds. you can just lower and higher the netting whenever you wish

[rustylady]

Does the netting go round the beds, or across the top of the frame?

[MrBloom]

just overlaps the top of the frames

[taff]

Don't spray, cardboard
Great idea.

[Dusty Rhodes]

If your raised beds had a topper, they'd be giant "coldframes".

[MrBloom]

if i was to put tops on them, then what kind of stuff would you recommend growing in them throughout the cold weather ?

[Dusty Rhodes]

You'd have to keep the snow cleared away from the glass in the winter to let the light in. That being said, it would probably be good to try cool weather crops such as cabbage, carrots, etc...maybe get them going now before the weather gets dreadful. Also, the structure would be a good spot to harden off transplants in the Spring if you don't have a greenhouse.
I could see planting lettuce under cover in the early Spring. I think a thermometer inside would tell you what you might be able grow under cover during the winter...perhaps supplimental heat would be in order. You could always try just covering one and experimenting...

[MrBloom]

suppose i could try little experimenting, i got plenty of room